Another recent find from an old timer(have to be careful with that expression, as I am quickly becoming one myself).

Second to old west sixguns, I LOVE lever actions. Grew up watching Chuck Connors unload his lever gun rapid fire at the start of every Rifleman episode. Cool!

Here is a very nice, and apparently never fired, Winchester 1894 in 32 Win Special(30-30 necked up to 32). 32 Win Special was the second most popular lever gun caliber next to the venerable 30-30. It was considered an elk cartridge where the 30-30 was considered a deer cartridge. Both are based on the 38-55 cartridge, which was a moose and buffalo cartridge.

This example was made in 1955, right at the peak of the Old West resurgence after WWII.

I think you've already noticed the finest aspect of this rifle. The gorgeous feathered burl walnut stockset.

I'm in love!

Nothing better than natural sunlight to capture the depth of it all. Yummy. Winchester can not confirm if the rifle came with it or not but given the overall condition I would have to say yes. No way to verify unfortunately. Even the Cody Museum cannot. Sure is a dandy though....

 

What a stock!!!

Breathtaking!

I love nice figured walnut! The .32 Winchester Special chambered Winchester Model 94 isn't rare, but is just enough less common to add interest to my mind.

I'd enjoy having a .38-55 to play with.


Always thought the notions about .30-30/.32 Winchester Special performance differences that were held in bygone times were a hoot. But, old timers around these parts would swear that the .32 Special was more powerful.

There really was not a dime's difference in ballistic performance between the two.

On hand here are a 1928 vintage Winchester Model 54 Carbine chambered for .30-30 with 20-inch barrel and having a sparkling bore as well as a 1941 vintage Winchester Model 94 chambered for .32 Winchester Special with 20-inch barrel and having a sparkling bore.

I devoted some chronograph time to the two rifles and cartridges on an occasion. Fresh factory boxes of Winchester Western .30-30 170 grain ammunition and Winchester Western .32 Winchester Special 170 grain ammunition were obtained. 10 rounds of each were fired over the chronograph screens and averaged.

The results showed that the .32 Winchester Special 170 grain load with its .321" diameter bullet gave an average velocity of 2212 fps while the .30-30 Winchester load with its .308" diameter bullet gave an average velocity of 2202 fps. The .30-30 rifling twist rate is 1 turn in 12 inches while the .32 Winchester Special rifling twist rate is 1 turn in 16 inches.

Ten paltry feet-per-second difference with bullets of near diameter and same weight. No deer (or elk) would know the difference between these two cartridges.

I've taken five deer a piece with the two rifles at distances from about 30 yards to about 120 yards. All shots were good hits and both cartridges gave perfect satisfaction in each and every instance.


Here's the immediate pre-war Winchester 94 .32 Winchester Special in its rather plain stock and showing the very best five-shot group I ever fired at 100 yards from the bench rest. I've not really given the Winchester Model 94 rifles credit for shooting well, feeling that the Marlin Model 336 rifles were generally more accurate than the Model 94 was. The .32 Winchester Special didn't have the accuracy reputation that the .30-30 cartridge has. Wrong on both counts in this instance. The tight group might have been the results of a lucky flinch, but several other efforts were near as good.


I was verifying the sights for the upcoming deer season of 2017. It was in October of that year when I hied myself to the range to check the rifle's sights on an enjoyable afternoon's shooting. I didn't know that I'd be undergoing bypass surgery the next month rather than going to the deer woods that season when these photos were taken.




I still haven't gotten around to taking that Model 94 deer hunting since. Our youngest son got all enthused to use a Winchester 94 carbine for deer hunting last November so I lent the rifle to him and he took a nice buck on our old family place on the lake. So, the rifle finally got out for some hunting exercise.

 

Ha! Funny about the marketing of different calibers. Interesting data you have there on both. Stands to reason same case capacity and same bullet weight goes bang the same. But, winchester sold it on greater power.

It is certainly odd that the twist rates were so different, again I think it was likely clever marketing. Either way there were both 200yard rifles in practicality.

Very sweet grouping there Noelekal, that's darn good for any lever!

Sadly, I don't excercise my levers enough, most are collectibles but I always enjoy it immensely when I do take them out. I've got an 1881 marlin in 45-70 that is just a joy to shoot.

 

Visiting the US Army Heritage museum in Carlisle PA and came across these. Thought you might like the pics:

 

In what world were those posts worth the electrons wasted in getting them there? This must be a challenging thread for the mods to keep from going off the rails.

 

I've been in this thread for 6 years, it's always been very civil and polite. This is the only "off the rails" post I've seen, but it was WAY off the rails.

For some reason we've now got a few rabble rousers in OF. The humour thread got shut down because of it.

 

I think he's drunk or trying to get banned. He's still just spamming gifs in multiple threads.

 

Thanks to the moderation team for their timely response.

That's some depth to the engraving work on that Walther PP.

Omar Bradley was a good officer.

 

It's a well done museum too. Worth a trip if you're passing by Carlisle.

They had several period weapons that you could pick up to compare the weight. An ingenious way to exhibit and learn. The early weapons were pretty heavy. Must have been b-busting carrying those things throughout.


Edit: looks like I missed some excitement.

 

Only nitwits at work.

 

Glad this nitwit is on a vacation.

Carry on.

 

Speaking of M1s, I just put a ported has plug in the one that lives here. I need to break it out tomorrow and see how it does with some modern loads.

 

I hope you shoot prone.

 

Ok, if we're talking M1s...there are two at my local gun shop. The top one is an all-original 1944 Springfield. The bottom one is a 44 or 45, Winchester (receiver stamping still prominent) that was re-barreled and re-stocked in Europe then likely issued and used in Korea. The blonde wood is European birch or such. Both interesting examples. They're on consignment there and the shop owner told me the other day that the seller called him up and said, "start taking offers." They've been there about a year now. Original asking price for either is $2200. Since the CMP will sell a re-stocked and re-barreled unit for $1150, I'm thinking $1500 is a fair offer for some historical provenance.

 

Here’s the king of my collection.

 

M1s you say?

Here's the one that is on hand here. Also a 1944 gun manufactured by Springfield Armory.


Barrel date


Stock inspector's markings.


I'm so old that it's a DCM rifle, predecessor agency to the CMP, that I ordered in the mid-1980s at a cost of $108.75. It came in as a basic correct mid -1944 barrel, receiver, stock assembly and some trigger group parts. The rest of the trigger group is a mishmash of other WWII Springfield and Winchester parts. The rear sight and gas plug are post-war so the rifle saw an armory rework sometime before being mustered out into my hands.

It's the favorite of mine for local High Power Rifle competition. Seen here on the firing line with the Speedmaster. I'm trying to talk myself into attending tomorrow though my dodgy right shoulder is currently troubling me and would be a chore supporting me for the prone stages.

 

Ooo... 4-inch!!! My favorite barrel length for the Python. Nickel makes a really nice, not as commonly seen change even though classic blued revolvers are my very favorites. I've had to add some nice nickel to the collection in the past 15 years or so. I could live with that nickel Python and we'd get along nicely.

Here's a blue 6-inch Python from 1978 that lives here. It's not been babied, but sees some holstered use afield on hikes around our place over the years.

 

My M1 is a 1954 International Harvester. With it we now have three Binders at my house. The other two are a little older, the red one is a 1952 L110, and the green one a 45 K3.

 

I love an excuse to show off the Pythons. The 6" is from 76, and the 4" is from 77. The 4" was an Oklahoma highway patrolman sidearm until he retired. I bought it many moons ago. The 6" is a pretty nice one I found online before priced went nuts. It now belongs to my son, it was a gift when he got out of the Marine Corps.

 

You guys are killing me with the M1s (not literally thankfully). I was very interested in WWII history when I was younger and developed an interest in firearms of that era. Particularly American firearms. I always wanted an M1. Although, maybe I'm just a baby, but once I actually fired a .30-06 it wasn't as fun as I expected. Not sure I'll ever get one as I'm not a collector and my interest is a bit more practical. I did fulfill my dream of getting what I personally consider the most American firearm ever however. Even though it's modern it feels like holding a piece of history in your hand. And like a watch it's a fine piece of engineering and craftsmanship that can be handed down to the next generation. I want to try taking some good photos with my DSLR one day but right now I can only find a couple random old pictures on my phone.